HID to LED Conversion

[Tony16]

Good Afternoon Continental Forum


I recently purchased my 2019 Continental and wanted to upgrade to the LED Headlights. I searched eBay and found a pair of European headlights for a good price. The only thing I see different is that there is no orange on the corner light which i can do without. I’ve been searching this forum and I haven’t see anyone who has tried this yet. I thought It would be helpful if I created this thread for my first post and did a step by step instruction on how to do this. I'm super verse in automotive mechanics and I have no problem removing the bumper and Installing the lights. My issue is that I might have to rewire the Harness. The reason why I say that is that when I plugged in the headlights with the car and headlights off. The lights lit up. When I put the Headlights on, the signals lit up (steady. I included some pictures on my recent test. Hopefully I can get some assistance from the Forum who would have the Wiring Diagram for the Harness. I need the HID and the LED schematics. and for a long shot, I would need the European LED Harness. That’s if it differs from the US version. This should be an interesting spring project and I think we can all benefit from this.

 

[MarkX]

This should be an interesting spring project and I think we can all benefit from this.

Wow, yes! I, for one, will be following your progress with interest. Only option on my 2019 that I would have liked to have, but do not, was the headlight upgrade. The $2K price put me off. It will be interesting to see you accomplish this retrofit and at what cost.

I am very sorry to add that I have nothing constructive to respond to you requests for assistance, however. But in addition to your wiring concerns it occurs to me that there be more complicated issues to deal with such as the car's computer(s) and power sources.

 

[Tony16]

Wow, yes! I, for one, will be following your progress with interest. Only option on my 2019 that I would have liked to have, but do not, was the headlight upgrade. The $2K price put me off. It will be interesting to see you accomplish this retrofit and at what cost.

I am very sorry to add that I have nothing constructive to respond to you requests for assistance, however. But in addition to your wiring concerns it occurs to me that there be more complicated issues to deal with such as the car's computer(s) and power sources.

Believe it or not, I got the Headlights for around 400 each. It seems that the Euro style gets unnoticed on ebay. There were a few imperfections on the lens and housing, but nothing major. I just prayed that they turned on when I plugged them in lol.


I’ve read your posts in the past and i got some good info. I did get the Forscan with the ELM module. I changed my Infotainment screen to the Black Label one lol. I can’t afford a real one lolol.

Hopefully I can get some other Conti owners to do this project. I'm looking forward to the challenge.


btw. cool plate Mark.

 

[MarkX]

I changed my Infotainment screen to the Black Label one

Oh, yeah? Beyond the psychic gratification, to what benefit?

btw. cool plate Mark.

Thank you!

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[Tony16]

Oh, yeah? Beyond the psychic gratification, to what benefit?

Thank you!

HAHA! Just a visual thing. I'm leaning how the Forscan system works. I might have to use it for the Headlight MOD. some F-150 guys showed how to slow down the rapid blinker in the BCM (Body Control Module) Hopefully I can learn from their mistakes.


For the headlight mod, I just ordered a 16 Pin Molex connector male and female X2. God knows i won’t be splicing into my original harness. I might have to put the old ones back.

 

[MarkX]

Believe it or not, I got the Headlights for around 400 each

New at dealership: $1,500 each. Well done.

 

[Tony16]

Update. I will be working on the Headlight March 20th. I'm waiting for my LED Grille Emblem from RAYMAX. I'll Do a seprate post. For now, I'm Attaching the Wiring Diagram I got from my Friend who has a autobody Shop. I can see its going to be a bit of a challenge. I'm sure i'll have to go into the BCM and change the computer as built code so it doesnt throw a Check Engine Light.

 

[DaveRabbi]

Believe it or not, I got the Headlights for around 400 each. It seems that the Euro style gets unnoticed on ebay. There were a few imperfections on the lens and housing, but nothing major. I just prayed that they turned on when I plugged them in lol.


I’ve read your posts in the past and i got some good info. I did get the Forscan with the ELM module. I changed my Infotainment screen to the Black Label one lol. I can’t afford a real one lolol.

Hopefully I can get some other Conti owners to do this project. I'm looking forward to the challenge.


btw. cool plate Mark.

how do you change the info screen to black label?

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[Tony16]

how do you change the info screen to black label?

Whats up Dave.

So first you need an forscan OBD 2 interface (ELM 327) or similar. Then you have to download Forscan and register your account. Its free for 3 months. At that point you have to change the coding. It's not that hard. They have tons of info on this forum for the coding. But first you need the OBD 2 interface and the program.

 

[Jeyaar456]

My 17 year Continental had the HID adaptive headlights, my current 19 year Continental has the LED units. I much prefer the HID units as they turned with the steering, the LEDs units do not.

The difference in brightness, intensity and light throw is negligible.

 

[B1n2fra]

Good Afternoon Continental Forum


I recently purchased my 2019 Continental and wanted to upgrade to the LED Headlights. I searched eBay and found a pair of European headlights for a good price. The only thing I see different is that there is no orange on the corner light which i can do without. I’ve been searching this forum and I haven’t see anyone who has tried this yet. I thought It would be helpful if I created this thread for my first post and did a step by step instruction on how to do this. I'm super verse in automotive mechanics and I have no problem removing the bumper and Installing the lights. My issue is that I might have to rewire the Harness. The reason why I say that is that when I plugged in the headlights with the car and headlights off. The lights lit up. When I put the Headlights on, the signals lit up (steady. I included some pictures on my recent test. Hopefully I can get some assistance from the Forum who would have the Wiring Diagram for the Harness. I need the HID and the LED schematics. and for a long shot, I would need the European LED Harness. That’s if it differs from the US version. This should be an interesting spring project and I think we can all benefit from this.

I’ve been looking to do this conversion also. I’ve also noticed a lot of European headlights on eBay but I noticed the harness plugs on the European headlights were short a few pins from the American headlight harness plugs. So I was looking to purchase American headlights and try but I know you would have to modify the turn signal harness and connect it to the headlight somehow. And adding a resistor would easily eliminate the hyper flash without having to mess with the coding in forscan.

 

[Tony16]

I’ve been looking to do this conversion also. I’ve also noticed a lot of European headlights on eBay but I noticed the harness plugs on the European headlights were short a few pins from the American headlight harness plugs. So I was looking to purchase American headlights and try but I know you would have to modify the turn signal harness and connect it to the headlight somehow. And adding a resistor would easily eliminate the hyper flash without having to mess with the coding in forscan.

I went out on a limb and purchased one headlight without all the pins. The other light has all of them. It’s odd to me that Ford wouldn’t just make all the Headlights the same configuration. I did have a SNAFU on my initial install. It seems that a lot of these lights have different Modules with the same part code. Initially, I went on eBay to search for "Continental Headlight Modules" and just bought the cheapest one. But after taking off the bumper and rewiring the harness, I quickly found out that the modules do matter. Lots of Headlights on eBay have no Modules, so do yourself a favor when purchasing the headlight, make sure that it has all the pins and modules.


There was a positive side, even without all the pins, the headlights turned on and the signals worked. (no hyperflash). so let’s see what happens the next go around.

I attached the modules as an example. they both have the same part number "FG9T-13B626" One is a "AE" series and one is a "BF" Series.

The AE Series is the lower Module and the BF Series is the side Module.

One headlight came with the AE and the BF. the other headlight came with no Modules. I experimented with an AD series with no luck and also a BE series which also was no good. So I ordered the correct series and I’m currently waiting for the BF to come in so I can finish the install.

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[B1n2fra]

My 17 year Continental had the HID adaptive headlights, my current 19 year Continental has the LED units. I much prefer the HID units as they turned with the steering, the LEDs units do not.

The difference in brightness, intensity and light throw is negligible.

I’ll trade ya headlights. lol

 

[B1n2fra]

I went out on a limb and purchased one headlight without all the pins. The other light has all of them. It’s odd to me that Ford wouldn’t just make all the Headlights the same configuration. I did have a SNAFU on my initial install. It seems that a lot of these lights have different Modules with the same part code. Initially, I went on eBay to search for "Continental Headlight Modules" and just bought the cheapest one. But after taking off the bumper and rewiring the harness, I quickly found out that the modules do matter. Lots of Headlights on eBay have no Modules, so do yourself a favor when purchasing the headlight, make sure that it has all the pins and modules.


There was a positive side, even without all the pins, the headlights turned on and the signals worked. (no hyperflash). so let’s see what happens the next go around.

I attached the modules as an example. they both have the same part number "FG9T-13B626" One is a "AE" series and one is a "BF" Series.

The AE Series is the lower Module and the BF Series is the side Module.

One headlight came with the AE and the BF. the other headlight came with no Modules. I experimented with an AD series with no luck and also a BE series which also was no good. So I ordered the correct series and I’m currently waiting for the BF to come in so I can finish the install.

So did you have to modify the harness to get them to work. Please share. I was shopping for headlights on eBay. I was only interested in the U.S. one’s that came with the modules. I hate that some sellers remove the modules to try and make a few bucks.

 

[Tony16]

So did you have to modify the harness to get them to work. Please share. I was shopping for headlights on eBay. I was only interested in the U.S. one’s that came with the modules. I hate that some sellers remove the modules to try and make a few bucks.

I did have to modify the harness. To be honest, it wasn't rocket science. The map of the LED 16 pin euro harness and the US one is identical. I had to switch 3 wires to get it to work. Now programming is another issue. I got as far as install. But to Reprogram the whole thing, I didn't get to it. I had to rush to put the original stuff back. I'll post the whole thing once I finish the project, but it's 100 percent doable. The low beams worked. The lincoln embrace worked And the signals worked. I'll have pictures and videos in the upcoming weeks.

 

[Tony16]

So with months of research I finally finished the LED Conversion. It was NOT a piece of cake. Going through wiring diagrams and a little luck got to where I am today. I love the look and brightness of the new LED Lights. All functions work from the Daytime running lights to the turn signal. It really looks awesome! Programming the Headlight control module had to be done to accomplish this task. So if you’re asking if it can be done. YES! But I would do it at your own risk. Its really not plug and play. You do have to splice into the harness.

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[Jeyaar456]

The LED lights claim to be adaptive but in reality all they have is corner lights that operate as you turn the wheel ( The headlight switch must be on auto for this to work ) the main headlight beams just stay straight ahead. did you get the corner lights to work ?

 

[Tony16]

The LED lights claim to be adaptive but in reality all they have is corner lights that operate as you turn the wheel ( The headlight switch must be on auto for this to work ) the main headlight beams just stay straight ahead. did you get the corner lights to work ?

Yes, the corner lights work. When you turn the wheel to either side, it lights up. I had no issues with visibility. The lights are super bright.

 

[socialninja]

Yes, the corner lights work. When you turn the wheel to either side, it lights up. I had no issues with visibility. The lights are super bright.

Thanks for sharing! I’ve been thinking long and hard about this one too. I’ve been looking at the euro lights and trying to compare US lights. What a pain. My question... in the final analysis, was it worthwhile? Secondly, would it be prudent to just get US lights, with the modules?

 

[Tony16]

Thanks for sharing! I’ve been thinking long and hard about this one too. I’ve been looking at the euro lights and trying to compare US lights. What a pain. My question... in the final analysis, was it worthwhile? Secondly, would it be prudent to just get US lights, with the modules?

When I purchased the car, I really hated the lights. I knew that the LED lights give the car a distinctive look and I really wanted them. I had the same dilemma. I really considerd the project for a while and I took a gut shot on the euro lights.
The euro lights are not identical to the US ones. The main problem is the Modules, especially the side mounted one. You Definitely have to get the headlights with the modules already on the light. It took me 7 modules to figure it out. So in my opinion, I'd go with the euros only if the modules came with the headlight. To be safe, just get a pair of the US ones. The question is, is it worth it to you to change the lights. It's not that easy to take off the bumper. The total times I took it off was 3. Each time it took me 8 to 10 hours to do what I wanted. In the end. Yes! It was totally worth it. The lights give it a totally different look. That's the way it should of came from the factory.